Species Xestobium rufovillosum - Deathwatch Beetle

Classification · Explanation of Names · Size · Range · Habitat · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

Death-Watch Beetle - Xestobium rufovillosum

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga

Superfamily Bostrichoidea

Family Ptinidae (Death-watch and Spider Beetles)

Subfamily Ernobiinae

Tribe Xestobiini

Genus Xestobium

No Taxon (subgenus Xestobium)

Species rufovillosum (Deathwatch Beetle)

Explanation of Names

Xestobium rufovillosum (DeGeer 1774)

common name is derived from adults tapping on wood to attract a mate: males and females call each other by striking the surface of wood, which some interpreted as death knocking at the door(1)

Size

6–7.5 mm(1)

Range

subcosmopolitan, native to Europe, adventive in NA(2)(3) [New England, IL(4)]

Habitat

in oak and especially wood that has been previously attacked by decay fungi; indoors it usually infests wood that has been exposed to excessive moisture(1)

Life Cycle

takes 2–3 (up to 10) years; adults do not feed and live about 10 weeks(1)

Remarks

adults probably do not fly, but can raise wing covers and flutter hind wings; tapping is usually heard in spring when adults emerge(1)

Works Cited

1.	Handbook of urban insects and arachnids: A handbook of urban entomology Robinson W.H. 2005. Cambridge University Press.

2.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

3.	Death-watch and spider beetles of Wisconsin—Coleoptera: Ptinidae Arango, R.A. and D.K. Young. 2012. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-209. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory.

4.	A Catalog of the Coleoptera of America North of Mexico. Family: Anobiidae. White, R.E. 1982. USDA-ARS, Washington, DC. xi + 59 pp.

Contributed by v belov on 20 May, 2012 - 6:26pm
Last updated 17 March, 2015 - 10:48am

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